In 2013, two out of the 7 approved proposals for the Cassini’s Participating Scientist Programare form Italy. The two proposals, signed by the two INAF-IAPS researchers Federico Tosi and Giuseppe Mitri deal with the study of Titan’s surface.

On the 04th of December 2013 NASA presents its first Cassini Hangout, an online conference of the scientific team dedicated to the history and the future of the mission, opened to the public at 12:30 PST (21:30 italian time), at http://bit.ly/askcassini. You can participate to the meeting, sending your questions to the team.

Scientists working with data from NASA’s Cassini mission have confirmed the presence of a population of complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, that later evolve into the components that give the moon a distinctive orange-brown haze. The presence of these complex, ringed hydrocarbons, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), explains the origin of the aerosol particles found in the lowest haze layer that blankets Titan’s surface. Scientists think these PAH compounds aggregate into larger particles as they drift downward. (From NASA press Release)